Note 54 — Chapter XVIII · THE VICISSITUDES OF ANTWERP

Then the Rue de la Bascule, or 'Wapper,' a broad street with a canal in the middle, filling up, apparently, the space between the east side of the modern Rue Rubens and the west side of the modern Rue Wappers. In 1611, when Rubens built his house, the canal which used to run down the middle of the Place de Meir had been vaulted over for some time.